The queue to see the former president at one point stretched for over a mile. Many were unable to complete their mission and a surge of people tried to reach the coffin as viewings ended on Friday night.

His lying in state in Pretoria was part of a week of events celebrating the anti-apartheid hero's life. It followed a memorial service at stadium in Johannesburg where US President Barack Obama delivered a eulogy urging the world to carry on his legacy by fighting inequality, poverty and discrimination. Watch his address in full:

On Sunday after his death South Africans crowded into churches, mosques, temples and synagogues to remember Mr Mandela.

In the Regina Mundi Catholic church in the once blacks-only township of Soweto, parish priest Sebastian Rossouw called Mandela "a light in the darkness" and praised his capacity for "humility and forgiveness".

Inside the church, once used as a sanctuary by anti-apartheid activists during police raids, a single candle illuminated a portrait of Mandela with a raised-fist salute.

After his death was announced late on the night of Thursday December 5, South Africans gathered outside the former president's home in Johannesburg to pay tribute to the man revered as the father of the country.

MrMandeladied at home at 9pm local time (7pm GMT) on Thursday night after suffering from a lung infection. His death was announced shortly after on television by South Africa president Jacob Zuma.

Mr Mandela's wife, Graca Machel, and some of his three children, 17 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren were with him in his final days, with other family and friends in attendance.

President Barack Obama led the world in mourning the South African leader's passing, who he described as "a man who took history in his hands and bent the arc of the moral universe towards justice".

Prime Minister David Cameron also paid tribute to the former president, hailing him "a true global hero".

In London, mourners laid flowers outside the country's High Commission in London.